1508 - Exploration, Colonization

Exploration, Colonization

The Portuguese colonize Mozambique. They will rule the African country until 1975.

Spanish navigator Sebastian de Ocampo explores Cuba with a view to settlement.

Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León, 48, receives permission to explore the Caribbean island of Boriquén, which the late Christopher Columbus named San Juan Bautista in November 1493. Ponce de Léon accompanied Columbus on that second voyage and has won favor by colonizing eastern Hispaniola; he establishes the town of Caparra on the north coast of the island, and when he finds gold and a well-protected harbor he gives the name Puerto Rico to what later will be the port of San Juan (the entire island will be named "rich port" in 1511; see 1509).